UFC’s Viscardi Andrade suspended two years by USADA after testing positive for steroid

A former Ultimate Fighter Brazil castmate has been hit with a doping ban.

Viscardi Andrade, a UFC welterweight, has been suspended two years by USADA for testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol and its metabolites, per a release sent out by USADA on Tuesday. Andrade’s suspension is retroactive to March 20, 2016, so he’ll be able to return to the Octagon in March 2018.

Andrade, 33, failed a drug test for the banned substance stemming from a sample collected March 7, 2016. That was actually 13 days before his fight with Richard Walsh at UFC Fight Night 85 in Brisbane, Australia, but the results did not come back until after the bout. The UFC announced the potential anti-doping policy violation on April 12, 2016, saying that Andrade’s sample was analyzed at the WADA-accredited lab in Rio de Janeiro.

WADA actually suspended its accreditation of that Rio lab in June, only to reinstate it in July before the 2016 Summer Olympics in the city.

In that fight against Walsh, Andrade won by unanimous decision. Since there is no commission in Australia and the UFC regulates itself there, the UFC determines whether or not Andrade’s victory will be overturned, per the USADA release.

The UFC told MMA Fighting in a statement that Andrade’s victory will be overturned to a no contest. Also, the promotion said it will fine Andrade “an amount to be determined.”

“Per the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, forfeited compensation shall be applied to offset the costs of the Anti-Doping Program or given to anti-doping research,” the UFC statement read.

Andrade (19-6) is on a two-fight winning streak and has won three of his four UFC fights.